Red Hood: Requiem
by Agent Brad Hall
Summary: [One-Shot] While out on his nightly patrol, Batman finds a bird that's flown out too far from the nest. R/R


**Red Hood: Requiem**

Gotham.

Jason swore to himself he'd never come back to Gotham. Honestly, why would he even want to? You were just as likely to get robbed and murdered as you were to see the sun. People on the outside called Gotham "the most dangerous city in the world." That didn't even begin to describe it. Gotham was a cease pool. And it disgusted Jason Todd to his very core.

So why did he return?

He was looking for someone. A friend. He didn't have many of those these days, so he tended to be overprotective of the few he had.

Isabel. Blonde. Cute face. Nice ass. She had said she was coming to Gotham to visit her sister for a few days. She said she would call as soon as she made it into the city. That was a week ago. He had went to her sister's house, and had found the place ransacked. All he could get were a few fingerprints.

Fingerprints that belonged to the man he currently had a pistol to the face of.

"Pl...please man!" Mathew Mason cried out. "I don't know shit!"

"You're a terrible liar, Mathew," Red Hood said. "And you..."

Red Hood looked down and saw as a large wet splotch grew on Mathew's crotch. He was literally pissing himself right now.

If this gets on my suit I'm gonna kill this guy, Jason thought. Whether I get the information or not.

"Red Hood," Jason heard a voice say behind him. He turned around and just as he suspected, the goddamned Batman himself was gliding down into the alleyway. His very pretense seemed to change everything. Made you feel like you were part of something greater. Something darker. "If you even think of killing that man, I'm taking you down."

"Batman!" Mathew squealed in delight. "Oh my God man, you are my her..."

"Shut up!" Jason yelled as he slammed Mathew's head into the brick wall, causing him to fall to the ground.

"Jason...!"

"Relax Bruce," Red Hood said. "I've seen you do worse when we were playing dynamic duo."

"You could have killed him," Batman stated.

"'Him' might've kidnapped an innocent girl, someone I care about," Jason said. "But you wouldn't know anything about that, would you Batman? Too busy fighting Killer Croc's and Joker's, right?"

"Jason, you're being reckless," Batman said, seemingly not even phased by what he said. "Instead of interrogating him, you should've trailed him, and maybe found this girl you're talking about. Now he's going to wake up and hide out somewhere you won't be able to find him."

"I had it under control, until someone decided they suddenly knew what was best for me."

"Jason..."

"And I think it's just so funny how you can criticize me for threatening someone, when the Joker killed me, a teenager that you were responsible for, and all you did was take him to jail. Which he escaped from. Again."

"Jason, I know you're mad at the world," Batman said, never dropping his serious expression. "And at me. But you can't execute criminals. It's not your place, and it won't solve the real problems. Gotham is like a plant. If you're too forceful, you can drown it or crush it. But if you're nurturing, and you take care of the plant, it'll grow, and bear you fruit."

"Right. Love Gotham and it'll love you back," Red Hood said. "Because that worked out so well for your parents."

Almost as soon as it left his lips, Jason knew he had went too far. Bruce's fists were balled up, and his teeth were bared. Jason knew he couldn't take Bruce in a fight. Mostly everything he had learned was from Bruce and experience. Both of which were useless to him right now, as Bruce had more training and much more experience than him. Bruce slowly asked towards Jason, never breaking eye contact. Jason got into a stance. He could feels his heart pumping.

Then Bruce hugged him.

It was quick and out of nowhere. Jason didn't hug him back. He didn't. But he didn't fight it. Eventually, Bruce pulled away.

"How's...how's the butler?" Jason asked, not meeting Bruce's eye.

"Alfred is doing fine, Jason."

"And...how's the redhead?" Jason asked. "How's Batgirl?"

Now it was Bruce's turn to not meet his eye. Jason could tell something was hurting him. Something had happened.

"Bruce...?"

"She was shot," Bruce said. "Doctor's say she might not ever walk again."

"Oh my God...," Jason whispered. "Who...who shot her?"

"..."

"Bruce? Bruce, who shot Barbara?" Jason asked. "Who...no."

"Jason..."

"No!" Jason yelled. "Bruce, tell me...tell me it wasn't..."

"It was," Bruce said. "The Joker shot Barbara."

WHAM!

Jason knew he couldn't really hurt Batman, thanks to the padding in his mask.

So he just hit him really hard in the jaw.

Bruce just stood there. The hit hadn't even moved him. Then he spit out blood.

"Are you kidding me Bruce?!" Jason demanded, taking off his red helmet so Bruce could see his face. See how angry he was. "It wasn't bad enough the bastard killed me, but now he's paralyzed Barbara, and you still don't have the goddamned nerve to do what needs to be done. You think you can rehabilitate him? He's nothing but a murderous, rabid dog. And he needs to be put down. He beat me into an inch of death with a fucking crowbar, and then he blew me up. And now he shot Barbara. And yet you still don't even care..."

"Don't you dare say that!" Batman screamed as he pinned Red Hood to the wall. "Don't you dare even think for a moment that I don't care! I loved you Jason! I loved Barbara! You think I don't care?! For years I had nightmares about the day you died, nightmares that scared me Jason. Not a day goes by that I don't think about what would happen if I just killed him! If I just wrapped my hands around his neck and twisted. It would be easy. But I don't, because I have to stand for something, Jason. I have rules. And if I break those rules...then what am I?"

Then Bruce turned away from Jason. He could swear he heard a sob. He had never seen Bruce break down like that. It was then Jason saw Bruce Wayne for what he really was. Not a billionaire playboy. Not a philanthropist. Not even Batman.

He saw a man. A broken man. A man who had seen everything taken away from him, and was losing still. A man who was probably on the grips of losing his sanity.

Jason walked to Bruce. And he did the last thing he thought he'd ever do.

He gave him a hug.

* * *

Just a quick little one shot. Didn't really put a lot of thought into it, but I hope you liked it.


End file.
